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Walk around: New Higgins bridge will drop east side stairs and do a less than “Missoula worthy” west stairway. Please add your voice.

March 30, 2019 /

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“If people don’t speak up, the stairs will go away. If we try to do something after the bridge is built, it will be more expensive, more disruptive and more difficult.”

A single staircase will replace the two on either side of the north end of the rehabilitated Higgins Avenue Bridge, due in part to the ballpark estimate of $100,000 for new stairs on the east side and difficulties with the layout.

Donny Pfeifer, a preconstruction engineer with the Montana Department of Transportation, said a second set of stairs could be added to the $14 million bridge project, but the funding would have to come from a source other than MDT. Using the old east-side stairs isn’t an option, since they’re not in good shape and aren’t tall enough to reach the upgraded bridge deck.

Geoff Badenoch, former director of the Missoula Redevelopment Agency, and many others, are pushing for the east side stairway to be included in the project now, while the bridge upgrades are still in the planning stages for the 2020 construction season. He supports the overall bridge work that will improve transportation and safety in the traveling community. However, he said not including staircases on both the east and west side of the bridge, which is the current configuration, is “a step backward.”

Geoff Badenoch is convinced that better stairways can be built on both sides of the bridge, and he’s hoping Missoula residents will band with him to put political pressure on the state transportation department to redesign the stairways.

“The replacement isn’t in DOT’s wheelhouse. They don’t do stairways. The bulk of their money and design goes to the bridge,” Badenoch said. “Stairways are a nuisance. For them, it’s about getting across the river, not access to the park. I understand, but it seems like the solution diminishes the quality of life for Missoulians.”